Photography: Smooth operator

Tim Walker

Tim Walker is The Independent’s Los Angeles correspondent, covering entertainment and other concerns from the West Coast of the US. He was previously a features writer and the editor of the paper’s diary column. His first novel, Completion, is being published in January 2014.

People always edit their lives on Facebook, picking photos, links and "likes" to make themselves seem as awesome as possible.

Now they're editing their faces, too. A selection of cheap, new photo-retouching apps are taking off online, as users decide they'd rather lose the wrinkles in their profile pic. Pimple Eraser, for instance, has been downloaded two million times in 16 months, according to The Los Angeles Times.

I turned for my personal retouch to pixlr.com, which calls itself "the most popular online photo editor in the world". I think you'll agree my new portrait is a triumph. As my little improvements will be difficult to spot, let me describe exactly what I've done. First, I decided, my blue-green eyes could be a little more vivid, so I brought out their turquoise hue with a delicate pin-prick effect. My hair, I thought, could do with a smattering of highlights. (That's not my natural colour. Can you believe it?) With some shading, I made my jawline just a tad stronger. And with that blue sky, I really ought to have a tan.

* Editor's note: for reference, we've also given you our more "nuanced" version of Tim...